Cast: Adam DeVine, Alexandra Shipp, Michael Pena, Rose Byrne

Directors: Jon Lucas, Scott Moore

Review:

Well, every month has their dumb comedy that bombs at the box office, and it looks like this month’s movie is Jexi.  For what it’s worth, Jexi really isn’t that bad and shouldn’t be in the discussion for worst movie of the year.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s still incredibly dumb and makes no effort to try to distance itself from the stereotypes associated with movies like this.  It’s the type of movie that feels like it was written five years ago and is just coming into fruition now.  Generally inspired and as generic as they come, Jexi is the type of movie that everyone will know exactly what to expect from for the entirety of its 84 minute runtime.

The film follows Phil (DeVine), a shy, insecure, man who is obsessed with his phone and everything surrounding it.  When his current phone breaks, he gets a new one that includes a virtual assistant named Jexi (voiced by Byrne) who recognizes the bad habits that Phil has and tries to correct them.  Whether this is standing up to his boss Kai (Pena) or getting the nerve to ask out his crush Cate (Shipp), Phil starts to see real positive changes in his life.  Naturally, none of this goes as planned and a series of wacky shenanigans take place that turn Phil’s world completely upside down.  Looking at a film like Jexi, I’m not exactly some mind-shattering twist that puts the audience on-edge, but I would’ve liked to have seen something somewhat original in the movie to separate it from the rest of the pack.  It’s about as generic and manufactured as you can imagine and that’s not exactly a quality I look for in a good movie.  There are a couple of funny jokes and lines littered throughout the movie, but ultimately the movie falls flat more often than not.  Looking at the roles DeVine has built his career on, I’ve never exactly been impressed by anything he’s done and he fails to captivate audiences in this movie too.  The only actor who has somewhat funny jokes is Pena, but it’s offset by his characting having some of the most grating dialogue in the movie.  This feels like the type of movie Netflix would release so that widespread audiences would have immediate access to it, but I have time believing people would go out of their way to pay money to see this movie.  There’s too many talented people in this cast for Lionsgate to waste on a script that was clearly made for B and C-list actors, but I guess these guys have to make a living somehow.  The sad part of all of this is that Lucas and Moore have written some impressive comedic scripts in the past, but clearly they didn’t bring their A-game on this project.  Maybe one day everyone will get back into the rhythm of things, but it’s very obvious that Jexi was a collective dud with the exception of a few relatively funny moments here and there.

Overall, Jexi is a joke in every sense of the word.  Not particularly funny, not having an ounce of originality, and existing purely to cater to the lowest level of society, Jexi is the type of movie that would’ve been better off left in the writers room and never seen by general audiences.  It may be good for a laugh or two, but ultimately there are much better options in the genre when searching for something that may be entertaining to you, your friends, or your family.  Ultimately, Jexi will be forgotten about as soon as it came, so no one who watched it will be negatively impacted other than the waste of their time.

Overall Score: 3.5/10